MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / June 22, 2014) – President Benigno Aquino has declared six Filipinos as National Artists of the Philippines putting them alongside other great individuals who contributed to the country’s cultural legacy.
They are Cirilo Bautista (Literature), Alice Reyes (Dance), Francisco Feliciano (Music), Ramon Santos (Music), Francisco Coching (Visual Arts), and Jose Maria Zaragoza (Architecture, Design, and Allied Arts).
A government spokesman Herminio Coloma the president signed the declation on June 20.
The Order of National Artists gives appropriate recognition and prestige to Filipinos who have distinguished themselves and made outstanding contributions to Philippine Arts and Letters. It is the highest state honor conferred on individuals deemed as having done much for their artistic field as recommended by both the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the National Commission on Culture and the Arts).
Bautista is a multi-awarded poet, fiction writer, critic, and essayist whose body of works includes Boneyard Breaking, Sugat ng Salita, The Archipelago, among others that received various accolades from both here and abroad.
And Reyes is a dancer and choreographer who founded Ballet Philippines in 1969, which is widely recognized today as a cornerstone of the Filipino cultural identity and is known globally as the country’s flagship company in ballet and contemporary dance.
While Feliciano is one of the country’s most important composers and one of Asia’s leading figures in liturgical music who created more than 30 major works that include operas and music dramas and hundreds of liturgical pieces, mass settings, hymns, and songs for worship.
n the other hand, Santos is a world-renowned Filipino composer whose works have been performed in major music festivals around the world. He has also done extensive studies in Philippine traditional music and Southeast Asian and Southern China music.
And Coching was an illustrator and writer regarded by many as one of the pillars of the Philippine comic book industry. He was the man behind popular comic book characters Pedro Penduko and Hagibis that graced the pages of Liwayway magazine.
And Zaragoza was considered a major figure in the architectural development of the Philippines. Among the places he designed were the Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City, St. John Bosco Parish Church in Makati, and the Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Posadas Village, Muntinlupa.
Both families of Coching and Zaragoza received the posthumous awards.
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